MONTH BY MONTH

January

Water Temperature: 44-48°

Method:

Flatlines,Planer Boards and Downlines.

Umbrella Rigs and jigging spoons on underwater humps.

Use Planer Board with big baits like 10″ plus trout or 12″ plus shad right up to the banks. Put big baits 4-6′ behind the board to prevent unnecessary snags as the bait will try to swim into logs and blow downs.

Location:

Fish in or near the backs of creeks

FC2 around humps

Other:

See fish boiling on the surface throw thread fin size top water lure.

Use smaller baits with #6 hooks and 8-12lb leaders and flies behind float balls, on Downlines and Flat lines.

Look for loons and diving birds. Be ready to deploy your spread as this time could be quite short over the bait fish.

February

Time of Day: 10:40am till 12:30pm

Water Temperature: 46°

Method:

Weighted flat Lines 100-135ft behind the boat

80-100ft behind the planer boardsweighted with a small splitshot

Umbrella rigs and jigging spoons on underwater humps

Downlines

Location:

Up north 45-50ft deep.

Back of Flat Creek or other southern creeks.

March

Water Temperature: 50°

Method:

Gainesville marina – diagonal bobber over 80’ bottom

Put a striper fly 20-30 behind a diagonal bobber

Location:

Pull umbrella rigs over humps

Downline directional bobbers over the trees in Flat Creek

Flat Line trolling on main lake points & humps

Other:

When using smaller baits use a loop knot on hooks

On short leaders use 2 beads instead of 1.

April

Time of Day: Early morning

Water temperature: 49°

Method:

Planer boards 1/4oz weighted 50’ behind the board

Location:

Shallow water

Time of Day: Mid-morning to 1:30pm

Water temperature: 64°

Method:

Weighted planer boards and unweighted flat lines

Weighted free lines between 70-100′

Flat line trolling on main lake points & humps (see Flat line chart in Charts)

Ben Parker spoon – drop to bottom bring up 10’ stop then 10’ more stop et al. Over trees and in trees.

Spinner Bait on Umbrella rigs

Dipsy Diver with braid

Location:

Open water

Browns Bridge to River Forks area

Chestatee River – C1 & C2.

Chestatee Bay from to LM 29

Two Mile Creek TM1 – TM5

Six Mile Creek SM1-SM6

Mouths of Shoal, Bald Ridge, Young Deer creeks

“B” Buoy to LM18

Saddle Dike – Shoal Creek

Other:

Conditions that will trigger stripers to come out of trees:

Cloudy then sun comes out

Sunny then cloud covers sun

Windy then stops

Calm then gets windy

Right at those precise moments stripers see a light change above will trigger them to come out of trees to investigate

Also stripers have been seen on flat bottom in 15-40′ depth. Have Downlines ready and use Ben Parker spoon power reeled or fan-casted will bring school up to boat.

Power Reeling spoon with:

Live bait

Flexi spoon

Bucktail with herring trim tail to decrease resistance

Drop shot herring with 2oz weight.

August

Time of Day:

Early – creek, lake coves & bays. Target 75 to 90 ft

Mid morning – deeper water in creek channel

Water Temperature: 81.5°

Method:

Small weight on blueback lines

Lead Core trolling

Downlines – LM24 to dam

Power Reeling

Location:

Browns Bridge to River Forks area

Chestatee River CR1 and CR2

Chestatee Bay from 2SH to LM29

Two Mile creek TM1 – TM5

Six Mile creek SM1-SM6

Mouths of Shoal, Baldridge, Young Deer creeks

“B” Buoy to LM18

Saddle Dike – Shoal Creek

Other:

Trolling bite better in the afternoon

Target: 45’ deep in morning; 70’ deep midday

September

Water Temperature: 86°

Method:

Lead core

Downlines

Lead core in the morning 8-9 colors with white on white

Location:

Early 1/3 back of creek mouth

Afternoon downline river channel and fairly deep

September to October

Time of Day: Early 48′ to Later 70′ deep

Water Temperature: Mid 70°

Method:

Downlines 48′ in patches of trees with any slight indentation in the creek channel or small bay off the creek channel; mouth of creeks up to about the 5th marker in each creek; if short bite occurs when downlining place a BB shot 10″ from herring. Also use an 8′- 10lb fluorocarbon leader on 15lb to 17lb main line

Lead core in the morning 8-9 colors with white on white over the 30′ main lake points at the mouths of creeks

Power Reeling very effective causing the reaction bite on 30′ to 50′ humps. This method is good for coming across several stripers in 15′ to 40′. Stripers will remain close following the reaction bite allowing downlines to be dropped at different depths with herring. An 18″ leader with at least 20lb mono or braid should be used with a 2oz bucktail jig tipped with a 8″ to 10″ chartreuse paddle tail or a Ben Parker spoon. If no luck on the 1st attempt it’s time to move. Be sure to have downrods already in the rod holders in case of a hit

Weighted directional floats to be used when downlining. This will allow more rods to be used. Use a variety of depths with the drops

Location:

The stripers are starting to move back up north. 30′ points beginning at Browns Bridge and heading north. Main lake points at the mouth of creeks in the Chestatee or the Chattahoochee Rivers

River Forks to Sardis Creek

Other:

Turnover lasts all the way to Christmas

October

Time of Day: Bite will be late morning to mid afternoon

Water Temperature: 72-75°

Method:

Downline 30-45’

Umbrella rig deep in river channel and creek channel

Lead core 8 colors over 30’ main lake points at creek mouths

Power reeling

Location:

Ben Parker spoon Saddle Dike, lake points south of LM9

Hit 30’ points at the mouths of creeks in the Chestatee & Chattahoochee rivers

FOR THE CASUAL STRIPER ANGLER

About this club

This blog was created by Steve Scott to assist the casual Striper angler. See my Striper reports in the Coastal Angler magazine and the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division blog. To learn more about Striper fishing join a club. There are two Striper clubs on Lake lanier. The Lanier Striper Club meetings are held on the 1st Tuesday of each month meeting at Hammond’s Fishing Center in Cumming Georgia and the Oakwood Striper Club meeting the 2nd Monday of each month in Oakwood Georgia.